I had this idea this morning, want to run by you:
Suppose that in addition (or instead) of giving money as it is implemented now, I give vouchers. My vouchers are tagged with my name. So I could give two frisco-vounchers to VIM, and three more to GCC. Then, you could give one ripper-voucher to VIM and two ripper-vouchers to GCC. Now, VIM has three vouchers, two from me, and one from you. GCC has three from me, and two from you. Think of each voucher as a channel or bucket. Say I commit $5 to fund my vouchers. This means that VIM will get $2 of that, and GCC will get $3 of that. You commit $3 dollars, thus, it is divided so that VIM will get $1, and GCC will get $2.
With me so far ? Now, there can be four classes of vouchers corresponding to how much you like a project. For example, they can be called:
[ awesome (1), game changers (2), blows my mind (3), changed my life (4)]. Now, I can give to VIM 4-level vouchers, and to GCC 1-level vouchers. Then VIM will get money from me in a corresponding proportion. The distribution is [ 10%, 20%, 30%, 40% ]. This means that if I commit $10 and I gave 1 voucher of each type, my $10 dollars will be distributed according to $1, $2, $3, and $4 into each channel.
Is there a monthly cycle ? The system could work without one. Simply when you add money it is distributed among all the vouchers. Vouchers could automatically be revoked or made inactive if a certain project receives enough money from you, say $5. So the vouchers represent a bucket queue where you put a little bit of money.
Essentially, then, a voucher is a "Like" and a channel to put money into your Like afterwards.
Why is it possibly better than how it is now ? Because the psychology of money spending is very complex, and this creates a kind of detachment between the act of clicking Props with the act of contributing money.
Suppose that in addition (or instead) of giving money as it is implemented now, I give vouchers. My vouchers are tagged with my name. So I could give two frisco-vounchers to VIM, and three more to GCC. Then, you could give one ripper-voucher to VIM and two ripper-vouchers to GCC. Now, VIM has three vouchers, two from me, and one from you. GCC has three from me, and two from you. Think of each voucher as a channel or bucket. Say I commit $5 to fund my vouchers. This means that VIM will get $2 of that, and GCC will get $3 of that. You commit $3 dollars, thus, it is divided so that VIM will get $1, and GCC will get $2.
With me so far ? Now, there can be four classes of vouchers corresponding to how much you like a project. For example, they can be called:
[ awesome (1), game changers (2), blows my mind (3), changed my life (4)]. Now, I can give to VIM 4-level vouchers, and to GCC 1-level vouchers. Then VIM will get money from me in a corresponding proportion. The distribution is [ 10%, 20%, 30%, 40% ]. This means that if I commit $10 and I gave 1 voucher of each type, my $10 dollars will be distributed according to $1, $2, $3, and $4 into each channel.
Is there a monthly cycle ? The system could work without one. Simply when you add money it is distributed among all the vouchers. Vouchers could automatically be revoked or made inactive if a certain project receives enough money from you, say $5. So the vouchers represent a bucket queue where you put a little bit of money.
Essentially, then, a voucher is a "Like" and a channel to put money into your Like afterwards.
Why is it possibly better than how it is now ? Because the psychology of money spending is very complex, and this creates a kind of detachment between the act of clicking Props with the act of contributing money.
Interesting.
I've been thinking for some time on how to avoid / fix the monthly cycle.
Today, if I give props to someone, they get money at the end of the month, but only once, right?
I like the idea of giving a prepetual channel of money to someone, and have it by rating (maybe you need 5 levels though ... a lot of ranking systems use 5 levels / stars).
I also wouldn't call it vouchers, perhaps just change the way props work and call this new mechanism "props".
Each prop entitles its owner to a monthly donation.
I think it's good to have a monthly cycle in some sense, it makes accounting easier ... I would just change the "one off" behavior.
